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Thursday, May 30, 2013

I ran across an article on another blog yesterday that is the inspiration for today's Thankful Thursday... "Mind Mapping for Genealogists" over at The Armchair Genealogist. Lynn Palermo wrote the article about a year ago, but I just now found it. (Yes, I dig through other blogs looking for those hidden gems like this one!) Her article was one of those inspirations that came at just the right time because it offered me a solution that I needed at just the right time.

In her article, Lynn discusses the basics of mind mapping and suggests several ways that the concept can be applied to genealogy projects. I won't go back over everything that she discussed because she did a tremendous job of it, and I want to give credit where credit is due.

What I will tell you is that after reading Lynn's article, I went and downloaded a couple of the software programs that she mentions and began playing...and continued playing...and then very quickly got serious about using mind mapping in not only my genealogy, but in other areas of my work life.

I have to say that the iMindMap program that Lynn mentioned is by far my favorite of the programs I've worked with since reading her article. After about two minutes of having the program loaded on my computer, I created a quick mind map to start helping me "de-clutter" my thoughts on what I wanted to do in the area of genealogy.

As you can see, what I started with isn't extremely fancy or in-depth, but that was what I came up with in less than three minutes of using a brand new program. Since that picture, the mind map has exploded and also spawned three other maps with the potential for a few more.

At this point, my intention is to utilize the concept of mind mapping to help plan out my research projects, organize goals, organize writing projects, and develop a self-education plan. And that is just in the area of genealogy! I can see mind mapping software being useful in many, many other areas of my personal and professional life.

I highly recommend that you go take a look at the article that got me started with mind mapping and download the free trials of a few programs. See what mind mapping can do for you, and you'll understand why The Armchair Genealogist inspired my Thankful Thursday! (Thanks, Lynn!)